Sea Breeze
by Simply Kateh
Summary: Prior to meeting the Inner Senshi, Haruka and Michiru have a moment on the beach and discuss their love and their destinies.


AN: So... my first Sailor Moon story ever. This little story stems from a night about a week and a half ago when I couldn't stop thinking in Haruka's voice! It was a little bizarre, soI decided to write it down. This story takes place before Uranus and Neptune are introduced to the Inner Senshi. There will be one more chapter, from Michiru's point of view to come that takes place after the final episode of Stars. Don't read if you haven't finished watching the series!

* * *

_Blazing Emotion,  
There's a light that glows from your heart,  
It's a chain reaction,  
And nothing will keep us apart,  
Stand by my side,  
There's nothing to hide,  
Together we'll fight till the end,  
Take hold of my hand,  
And you'll understand,  
What it truly means to be friends.  
__  
_- "The Power of Love"

* * *

The sound of the crashing waves washes over me and slowly brings me back to earth. I feel — small. Insignificant. I gaze up at the full moon just hovering on the horizon, where earth meets sky and I wonder if she feels the same too. I don't have to look to know that her face is void. I know her well enough by now to know that she keeps her thoughts, not her emotions on the inside. How she separates the two from one another boggles my mind. I don't attempt it, instead I keep everything in.

My emotions, my thoughts, my _feelings_ are useless to me here. I am here for one purpose and one purpose only. I am here to fulfill my destiny, nothing more. I'm not to mingle, I'm not to care. I am a solider, not by choice but by fate. I have a duty to fulfill and I _will_ risk everything to fulfill it. When I took hold of my transformation pen for the first time I gave my life to this cause, not simply the beating of my heart, but my future and my dreams…

But I gained something, didn't it? It should be good enough. _She_ _is_ good enough. More than. More than I deserve, even. Fate has a funny way of being bittersweet. I turn my head ever so slightly and smile. She returns it genuinely.

I turn back to my star gazing, leaning back into the cold sand.

"I'm sorry."

The words reach my ears, but she is as still as stone, gazing relentlessly into the sea.

"Don't be. There was nothing you could have done. You did warn me, after all."

She turns to me now, our eyes meet. "Do you ever regret it?"

I pull the key that opened so many doors and closed thousands of others from my blazer pocket and fiddle with it in my hands. I think for a moment before answering, because I'm not really sure if I actually know the answer. After a moment of silence, I have come to a conclusion.

"No," I say.

"You're a liar," she says, her eyes cold. "If you were given a chance you would hang up your uniform in a heartbeat."

She's got a point. I would, but- "Only if I was allowed to keep you," I say and reach out blindly in the darkness to grasp her hand. Her fingers are cold, but strong. I squeeze her hand tighter. In one hand, I have all I ever wanted, in the other I have the harsh reality that it could never last. The transformation pen is cold and hard, glinting mockingly in the moonlight. I couldn't get rid of it if I tried.

"Do you know that I love you, Haruka?" she says suddenly, her voice quiet and calm, as if she was asking me what I'd like for dinner.

"I do now," I say with a chuckle, though the wheels in my head are turning. Did I know that she loves me? Subconsciously, yes. Our love was always unspoken, like our destinies.

"Haruka… listen to me. I really do. I love you. I don't know what I would do without you-"

"Michiru, you mustn't—"

I have no idea what to tell her. That she can't love me because we are destined for a Romeo and Juliet ending? For the sake of the mission?

Her voice turns low and stern, "I know what we said. We would risk anything to find the talismans, the lives of others and even our own if it came to it. But Haruka-- Haruka, I don't know if I can do that. It sounds so easy when we speak these words void of action, but we both can feel it. The Silence is approaching fast… its only a matter of time—"

"Stop it, Michiru. Stop."

With a sigh, Michiru turns away. The silence between us hangs heavy in the air broken only by the rhythmic crashing of the waves upon the shores.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, slowly rising. Maybe we were making promises that we were destined to break. I cannot deny that I love her; I cannot deny that I would risk my life for her. If Michiru fell, I would follow almost instantly, that is why we can't do this. Why we can't fall in love; because of our job, our _duties_ that we have to the Silver Millennium and to the rest of the world.

Do you know the feeling of holding a billion lives in the palm of your hand? I look down once more at the transformation pen, glaring at it as I strengthen my grip, hoping, somehow, to strangle my destiny.

"Haruka, this can work, if only you gave it a chance…" Her voice trails off; she is pleading with me.

"Do you realize the risk we are taking?"

"Yes."

"Than how can you even suggest --?" I stop, overwhelmed.

"Because I can feel that this is the way that things are supposed to be. There's no way we can defeat the Silence and find the talismans alone. It's a duel effort."

I look away; tears are forming in my eyes. It is a sensation that is foreign to me. I am supposed to be the strong one. The fabled cold-hearted Uranus. Legends like me do not cry.

"What if one of us falls?" I ask quietly.

"Then one of us falls… if that is what the fates desire. We will meet that obstacle when we come to it. It is pointless to worry about a future that hasn't even happened yet."

"Michi, we can't just feign ignorance, there are _lives_ at stake here!" Her naivety is beginning to grate on my nerves.

"Maybe…" I turn and look at her. I can hear the muted anger in her voice, "Maybe I couldn't care less!"

I should slap her! I _should_ just turn around and leave! There are million and one things at this very moment that I should do, but which do I choose? None of them. Instead I choose to do the one thing I shouldn't.

I kiss her. I fall to my knees beside her and kiss her and in this kiss, I put every fear, worry and insecurity that I have ever felt out into the open. And she, a compassionate soul be ever measure – she understands. She embraces my uncertainties as she would her own. She sees no stereotype for me to live up to; she has no predetermined image of who I should be. She understands that no one is fearless, faultless or impenetrable.

Suddenly I feel her arm around me, comforting me as a mother would a lonely lost child.

"There, there my little Ruka, everything is going to be alright."

I welcome the embrace and allow myself to be comforted and somehow she makes it seem like everything is going to be all right. Maybe we just have to take it a day at a time, as much as my fast paced personality abhorrers the concept.

"A day at I time, …" I mutter and she nods.

It will be hard for me, I know this. I like fast things, I like to drive fast, think fast, everything I do, I do with a sense of urgency. Patience was a virtue never taught to me as a child. If you wanted something, you worked as hard and as fast as you could to get it before someone else got it before you. I have never waited for a thing a day in my life, days fly by at 100 MPH. Now I feel as though I am stuck behind an old woman going 20 on the freeway. However, I can accept it and adjust, as long as Michiru is willing to take the journal with me.

I sigh a sigh of defeat. Michiru picks up her head off my shoulder where it had been resting and smiles at me.

"It wont be that bad, I promise," she says to me, "Plus you can still drive as fast as your heart desires, save you don't get us killed in your need for speed."

I grin at her and stand, grabbing her hand and pulling her up with me.

"Shall we?" I ask.

She smiles at me and moves her head ever so slightly. A nod. I kiss her once more, on the cheek this time and lead her to the car. As I start the engine and hear it roar under my touch, I find myself calmed by the fact that I still have control of at least one thing in my life. As we drive on, the transformation pen lies forgotten in my pocket, at least temporarily, like our destinies.

* * *

AN: Did you love it? Why? Did you hate it? Why? Leave me a review and tell me!


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